ATLANTA — The Georgia Senate approved a sports betting bill on Thursday, but it may have actually torpedoed any efforts to get it out of the General Assembly.
Channel 2′s Richard Elliot was at the State Capitol on Thursday when the bill was passed.
All this time, GOP leadership said the sports betting bill didn’t need a constitutional amendment because they were going to put it under the Georgia Lottery.
But then a late amendment changed all that, and lawmakers on both sides agreed.
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“It does complicate things. Yes, it would, because you got to get a two-thirds majority,” Republican state Sen. Clint Dixon said.
The new bill requires not only the General Assembly to pass it, but Georgia voters, too.
“I’m not disappointed. I mean, anytime we can put something out for a referendum for voters to vote on, you know, that’s probably the freest thing that we can do, so not too disappointed about that,” Dixon said.
Dixon’s sports betting bill would have put it under the direction of the Georgia Lottery as another lottery game, so no statewide vote was needed.
The state would grant 16 licenses, including five to Georgia’s professional sports teams, along with Augusta National, the PGA and NASCAR.
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But at the last minute, Athens state Sen. Bill Cowsert added an amendment that would require a constitutional amendment to see sports betting happen.
That requires a two-thirds vote in both chambers and voter approval in November.
“I’m not surprised. A lot of us feel very, very strongly that it’s unconstitutional to try and circumvent the voters and call this a lottery game,” Cowsert said.
The bill had a lot of bipartisan support, including Savannah Democrat state Sen. Derek Mallow, who told Elliot that he wants to see this passed so more money can go to Georgia Pre-K, so more kids can go too.
“We’re going to work to get this bill over the finish line by enabling the constitutional amendment because we’re serious about education, and I’m serious about education,” Mallow said.
For all this work, the Senate has to pass another bill with a two-thirds majority, then those bills have to pass the House again with a two-thirds majority.
This will continue to be an uphill climb.
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